It's such a tiny space (to give you and idea the rug is 3x5 feet). The space between the bookshelves only about four feet, and my husband only has a couple inches clearance to stand up in it (he's 6' 4").

I never thought I'd have any white walls in my house, but this proved to be a really tricky area. Any color was horribly distorted by energy saver pot lights, an incandescent bulb in the fixture, and lots of shadows; even it if looked ok in the natural morning light (this little window faces east).So white it is, and I actually like it!

In fact now that I've reorganized it a bit I love it.

I keep all my knitting books here, all the needles, my wheel and my favorite yarn and fiber.

This little dormer space was always in the house (though in a bare attic when I bought the house). I had the window seat and shelving units built. I only wish I would have made the window seat much deeper (it's about 18"). I was pregnant when I drew this up and I felt like a whale sometimes so I guess I figured I'd be way smaller post baby... but I can barely squeeze between the bookcase to lean on the wall. It's okay though because we're almost always on the floor (unless there is rain, or a school bus, or garbage truck, or...). I had the shelves made really tall just to fit my photo albums. I have about five years in them, after that the pictures get pulled, scrapped, or filed into deep storage.

I moved things around so one cupboard could be full of Tuesday's toys. Right now I have furiture for this dollhouse and some plastic people for her to play with. I'll share with you what I found in those cupboards later. It's a little embarrassing.

Oh and I've had some requests for books that I use to get ideas for Tuesday projects.

I just can't help myself! Well really, I have been wanting to do this since the upstairs remodel was finished nearly two years ago. In a fit of "I'm so pregnant get these workers out of my house" stupidity I told the guys working on our house that I would touch up all the paint and not to worry about anything else. I just wanted them out! Of course then I had the baby and when was I going to paint? So chips, nicks and repairs still had white patches. And corners, trim and ceilings were barely painted at all. What finally sent me over the edge was the decision to get a bunch of my photographs framed so I would have a good representation to show clients when they came to the ordering sessions (yup, in my craft studio).

The sort-of-almost-green neutral (flyleaf) that I love so much downstairs, just never worked upstairs so I carried the purple/grey (overcast dawn) from the craftroom up the stairs and into the upstairs landing. Full disclosure, I did not carry it, rather professional painters did. I was going to, but when even my mother told me she wouldn't attempt such a tall stairwell I got nervous. So glad I had these guys come do it, they were so quick, clean and thorough.

I used my mom (and her awesome pro design skills) to help me layout the photos and hang them. Earlier in the week I went to get them all matted and framed in a variety of styles. I tried to get a little something for everyone. I'm hoping this way if people want a fully finished product delivered (the framed prints), I can give them lots of choices.

It is so freaking hard to photograph. I have a super wide angle lens on and still can't get the full stairwell.

Believe me when I say it's beautiful and I am in love!

We all love walking past these photos. Tuesday loves to point out friends and family. Anyone who doesn't think family photography is art is crazy! We still have a few gaps to fill in, and I'm excited to see our gallery grow.

(I'm choosing to get larger photos mounted on a thin substrate for durability)

One thing I'm amazed with is the quality of pro lab printing (all the photos I had framed were pro printed). I'm so glad I am going all in and am going to be able to give my clients amazing finished images, not just digital files, like I did before. I was excited to get my wedding shots as digital negatives, but all these years later and I still don't have some of my favorites printed. In hindsight a handful of beautiful prints for my walls would have been so much nicer, we didn't get anything professionally printed and I totally regret it.

I didn't think I'd be into canvases... Then I ordered my first one. I guess I just didn't like the canvas I saw before, but this is a real photograph, with the paper backing removed, mounted to canvas and stretched. It's so pretty I have a hard time not touching it whenever I pass it (good thing it has a protective coating!).

Do you have a family/friends photo wall? They are common in our family and I love looking at them when ever I go to my relatives homes. My grandparents had a huge one down a hallway (that unfortunately was blasted with light all day long in Southern California, so the photos didn't fare so well). They had pictures of everyone's wedding, and never took them down, even if the couple got divorced! We called it the wall of shame. :)

Ok I have to admit to a little chill in the air, despite my reluctance to let summer go. Of course when this happens and more time is spent inside I start thinking about tweaking things here and there. My living room is the next on my list.

It looks pretty good here with lots of light coming in. The rug is newish and we love it, it's from Amy Butler. I was waiting for the rug before figuring out the color for the table and other things, like curtains. I think I want to have the table painted that lighter blue color and do curtains in a similar shade, but I'm having trouble finding some dark enough blue that don't look too heavy. I want them to be full length (the ones I have now were made with something I had on hand, hence the short size). Ideas? Thoughts?

To the right of this picture is the little phone cabinet:

I have the table moved into my craftroom right now so Tuesday and I can work on projects together. I think I'm going to leave it as is, but I need to clear coat it so it's easier to clean.

I did already do one little thing:

I re-did the nook above the fireplace to make a little art gallery.

When I was thrifting with the girls I said I thought a little collection of glass candlestick holders would be fun. They said I could find a whole collection in the one Goodwill we were at, and they were right.

Are you starting to turn the focus inside? Any little projects around the house you want to share?

Ok so we had one sunny day and I freaked my freak out and didn't know what to do with myself. Totally neglecting the blog in the process. Don't be too worried though, it just started raining again. :) That sunny day I had a total burst of energy. Bj and I have been reading this and it really made me want to get organized and purge/rotate some of our things, including Tuesday's toys. I happened upon an antique mall while trying to get around Portland last weekend and found this little gem:

I'm sure who ever was selling it found it for much less than the $32 I paid for it, but I could not resist. I have been wanting to get something like this for Tuesday, and the book sealed the deal on my thinking that her toys should be out of the big bin and into something a little more organized. The top will hold a little tray for nature bits we find, when we venture out again. This is in our dining room:

That I cleaned up after this picture and managed to squeeze in space for a family art cabinet:

Tuesday was just a bit excited when I showed it to her the next morning (after staying up until 12:45 baking, cleaning, organizing, and doing laundry... I could not help myself!). Knowing she was going to want to explore the cabinet I had to dress her in this shirt made by her Aunt Sciarrino:

I love that Tuesday can pull what she wants out of here (the cabinet has a baby lock on it, so it's only open when she is supervised):

coloring, a favorite:

Mark on one page, then flip to the next! Notice the crayons...

She decided the paper on them was just too annoying. I'm thinking we're going to have to get a booster soon for one of the seats because having the arms come on to the table is the one draw back of her "high chair" (we got rid of the wooden one after she started trying to climb it).

When ever I take on a new project I tend to get a vision pretty quickly of what I want. Which means pretty quickly I get sick of looking at the "before". Bj and I have had plans drawn up to tackle the last remaining bit of cottage work, and it's a big part—the yard. People our yard is not looking good. When I bought the house it looked like this in the front:

(you can see the whole place here—time warp!) Then I chopped everything down (yes, I was called a tree hater). Now it looks like this (well, in September it did):

The tree had to come down, not just for the porch, but because the roots were growing into the foundation, I did not want to cut it. The bushes were old crusty things so those went... leaving a very bare front yard. One that, as you can see is mostly dandelions. But my friends, that is just to keep up appearances. The backyard is truly scary:

and:

oh, it's going to get worse:

the ghetto shame of it all:

Yes there is garbage, and weeds, weeds, more weeds.

I took all these pictures last year hoping HGTV would come transform it, but no dice. Now that we have a plan in place I keep clicking my heels and hoping it will magically be done already. But everything in due course. Right now we are the pick pretty plants phase, which is fun, and a little overwhelming. I know what I want: cute, modern, country, cottage, good-smelling, veggie-producing, eco-friendly, semi-native, low-water, awesomeness. I just am not sure exactly what plants those are. So we've been walking around the neighborhood snapping pictures, going through my magazine tear out file and checking out books. I have a list going: lilacs, clematis, roses, alums, maybe a coral bark maple? I would LOVE to know some of your favorite plants. The landscape designer (yes, a professional. If there is one thing my professional interior designer mother has taught me, it's that a professional will think of about a million things you never will) Tina will let us know if the plants won't work in our area, or certain parts of our yard (like under our black walnut maple that I like, thank you very much). So please let me know. Oh and if you do want to go to my mother's blog, she's looking for help picking out a new tree—Tex are you out there?

I doubt you remember this way back when, but the other bedroom downstairs actually was my craft room when I first moved in. Now it is Bj's office. I painted it for him, you know right before I crammed all my stuff in there before my cabinets were put in :) We finally got it all cleaned out (I may still have a few things in that closet...), paint touched up around the windows, curtains and pillows made and now:

Looking in from the door. Bj made this little reading nook for Tuesday by using my old stamp shelf.

Easy for Tutu to grab her favorite books.

She loves it. Side note: she also love this simple little notebook I made for her:

With pictures from catalogs and magazines. I cover up the words with these big stickers I got somewhere.

Tuesday where are you going? Probably back down the hall to my craft den, she likes to go back and forth talking to us, it is so cute! I'm so glad Bj finally really has a room in the house that is his. He didn't mind the yellow paint, or all my stuff on the corkboard wall, but I think he really deserves to have this space his way. And I like it too!

I think of this as a den type of space since it is a walk through room with no closet. In case you forgot first it was our "master" bedroom. Then it spent half a year as a construction holding/giant mess place. And right before I had Tuesday I "organized" it to look like this:

Ok so it wasn't always that bad, but it wasn't so great. I was hardly using it at all as of late because all the storage was open and Tuesday went nuts pulling things apart in here. Welcome to craft room version 2.0:

Oh I'm such a tease!

Note that all these photos were shot with a wide angle lens... the room didn't suddenly grow over night, though it sure feels like it did to me!

Because I have so many pictures (you did say you wanted details!) I'm going to continue this after the jump.

I'm having a slow time of it since someone is not sleeping as of late:

Also her "help" is not always so helpful.

I made a scale drawing of the cabinets and all the things that are going in them before they came (of course). But I got more shelves than I thought and I still need some more containers so that's slowing me down. But the real problem?

In my bid to be mother of the year I bought the most shiny, fragile and sharpknobs in existence. Two have broken already, one when no one was in the room (what?!?!). They are mercury glass, but still I think if you make knobs out of something that they should be able to handle the pressure of a drawer being pulled open. Le sigh.

I won't get finished pictures of the space up until after the weekend, as I have the first birthday party to get together. But when I do would you like sources? I'd be happy to list them, but won't bother if there is no interest. Next post is my 1,000!!!! Crazy! A look back plus a fun giveaway so stay tuned.